Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

Vol. 2: Chapter 11.2 - Shizuku

"Ahh-! It's you!"

"Ehh... It really is you..."

"Holy shit, that's wild!"

This totally feels like one of those silly moments from superhero stories where the main character finally reveals his or her true identity.

"U-Uhm, I-I just really wanted to share this with you... I thought it would be fine." Airi was fidgeting all over. It was clear that it took a lot of courage to tell us her secret.

"This is awesome, Airi! I can't believe I'm friends with an idol~!"

"It's amazing how you're the main feature in a magazine issue, too," Akito nodded with a smile.

"Ugh... I can only imagine the ogling faces of Ike or Yamauchi when they find out about this."

"K-Ken-kun... Let's not talk about them! And I'm not planning on telling anyone other than you guys, anyway..." replied Airi.

"We're happy that you've decided to share this with us, Airi. We'll keep this to ourselves if you don't want others to find out," I said.

"To be honest, if Ike and his gang weren't idiots, they would've already found it out."

Haruka leaned forward to cuddle with Airi like she usually does.

"Well, that means Airi's disguise was just too perfect!" she said. "The disconnect between your fashion choice and fashion knowledge makes sense now!"

"Amazing... To think that you're an idol, Airi..." Ken continued observing the pages with Airi's photos. "It just seemed weird how you're very cheerful-looking in these shots..."

Akito engaged with him and scanned the pages curiously.

"You're right... That's probably the main reason why the thought of Shizuku being Airi didn't cross our minds immediately," he said.

She increasingly became more anxious as they continued.

"You should've told me about your Shizuku persona much sooner. I could use some cheerfulness lessons from a professional," I joked.

If my guess is right, Airi was worried about our image of her suddenly changing for the worse. After all, revealing a completely different personality would make you seem dishonest and fake.

I preemptively turned that stigma around and prefaced her shy personality as the genuine one. It should lessen her anxiety a bit.

"Ehh?! I'm a cheerful person too, right? I can teach you!" complained Haruka.

"I want help from a professional. You're just a cheerful idiot, Haruka," I replied.

"That's true." Akito instantly agreed.

"Heh, idiot." Ken snickered with a smug grin.

"Wha-?! I'm just trying to be nice!" Haruka hugged Airi as she shed some crocodile tears. "Waah! Airi, they're bullying me!"

"K-Kiyotaka-kun, you didn't have to be so mean." Airi calmly scolded me.

Meanwhile, Haruka turned to us and stuck her tongue out.

That whole skit probably eased Airi's tense nerves.

After some more teasing and banters, Airi finally opened up and decided to share some of her stories with us. Apparently, one of the things that she desired the most was to be as jovial as her Shizuku persona, like how Kikyou is to everyone or how Haruka is to us.

"I was never really cheerful if you can even call it that. I just acted like how I thought I should... Whenever I talked to someone while looking them in the eye, I just hide how scared I am and continue smiling. During the photoshoots... I just make myself empty until everything ends," Airi sighed. "I don't think I can act like that outside of work, to be honest."